Playing the Game
by lunarmira
Summary: Temari has something on her mind, and Gaara convinces her to go speak to Shikamaru, who incidently also has something on his mind. One shot drabble.


_**Play the Game**_

**AN: **_I don't own Naruto or the characters. Don't ask me again. This is a one-shot drabble. Enjoy._

oOoOo

Temari chewed her lower lip as she tried to flip the omelette and instead made a scrambled egg. Cursing at the dish she threw the remnants of it into a dish and flopped it on the table, ignoring her brothers' glances in her direction as she returned to the stove to attempt to make another dish.

Kankuro picked at the omelette, "Is she trying to kill us or something?" he whispered to Gaara who shrugged and looked sideways at the other attempts at home-cooking she had done that morning, on the table were a few slices of burnt toast, raw bacon, what he only assumed was supposed to be some sort of sausage...

"I heard that!" Temari snapped as she came in with another blackened concotion, "Shut up and eat!"

"But I don't wanna!" Kankuro protested, "I'm not hungry... I have to go work on my puppets... I..." he cowered as Temari glared and threatened to hit him.

"It's not that bad," Gaara said quietly as he took a mouthful of the closest dish, "Once you get pass the looks, it tastes pretty good."

"Thanks!" Temari beamed as she sat down and started eating, "I don't know though, maybe I really should take some lessons." She ignored the stares she got from her brothers.

"Hey sis... why are you so worried about cooking now?" Kankuro asked, "You never really cared before."

She humphed and took another mouthful, "No reason, just felt like making breakfast for my brothers. Can't a girl do that?"

The rest of the meal was spent in a contemplative silence, Kankuro was trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with his sister. Gaara studied her, not thinking anything was wrong, but something definately was up.

Temari tried her best to keep her mind off the most annoying, egotistical, _laziest_

man she knew. And he had the nerve to insult her! All with a stupid remark about how he liked girls who could cook. Then he suggested that maybe she couldn't! In earshot of his friends no less!

"Temari?" Gaara's voice broke her away from her thoughts, "Your hand..."

She looked down, she had shattered her plate and now her hand was cut and bleeding. Cursing at herself and that lazy man, she excused herself and went to the bathroom to wash it.

Soup and water washed the blood away, and she wrapped it up with some guaze and left the room to find both of her brothers peering around the corner at her.

She expected the nonesense from Kankuro, he couldn't stay out of anyone's business to save his life. But Gaara's curiousity made her stop and wonder.

She sighed, "Look, I'm on my period alright."

That got Kankuro running away for dear life, but Gaara stayed, "That's not it." he said quietly, "That you take it out on your training dummies and spend the days in bed. And it's the wrong time of month. This is something different."

She cursed at herself again, How come he knew her so damn well. "Maybe I don't want to talk about it," she said crossing her arms.

"No. You want to scream about it," Gaara motioned her to follow him, "Come on, you can scream at me while I finish the paperwork for today."

She found herself at a lack for words and went with him to the Kazekage's office.

oOoOo

"And then Choji comes up and asks me if I wanted his mom to show me some techniques!" Temari finished, "As if I need any help!"

"Taste wise no," Gaara said quietly as he took another piece of paper from his desk, "The dishes you make don't exactly look appetizing though."

"Urgh! He seems to forget everything I've done for him!" she was close to wanting to punch something now, "If it wasn't for me he would have been pulverised by now, and he's just so smug because he thinks he's smarter than everyone!"

She continued to rant about the Nara. Gaara finished his work, but sat at the desk in thought, his hands folded together as he watched his sister, _I thought they got along well. Is this something like the teasing she and Kankuro do to each other? _His eyes widened, _This is something more, much more. _He took out a document from his drawer, "Temari, let's all go to Konoha."

She stopped in mid sentence, "Eh... what?"

"The chunnin finals are about to be held correct," he signed the document, "So I'll be leaving Baki in charge of matters here while we go to witness them. I have a few gennin that I'm hoping will pass after all. And while we're there, you can talk to Shikamaru and tell him what is on your mind."

She blushed, something Gaara was certain that he had never seen before, "Wha... what exactly do you mean by that?"

"You obviously need to talk to him about something, no time like the present."

"Gaara! You can't just go up to someone and tell..." she shook her head, "I mean... I..." she faltered around for the best words to explain herself, "It's... it's a game of sorts. You can't just say 'I really like you' and hope for the best sometimes."

"Why not?"

Temari chewed her lip, somehow she knew that between that her and Kankuro, she would be the one having this sort of conversation with Gaara, but gods above and below, why did it have to be about _her_ love life. Truth be told, she was hoping to play the part of all-knowing elder sister to his naive just-fell-in-love younger brother.

And that wasn't how it was playing out at all. For some reason he seemed to be the one who knew more about it than she did. _I was really looking forward to teasing him too..._

"It's really hard to explain," she sighed in exasperation. Mostly aimed at herself because it wasn't hard to explain at all.

"You're afraid of rejection?"

She tensed, "How..." she went over and hugged him, "You know, you're a really good little brother," she sighed, "Too smart for your own damn good, but I wouldn't give you up for anything."

He smiled, and relaxed into the hug. "You will talk to him?"

She nodded, "But only if you act like you don't know anything when you fall in love. Damnit I want to give you advice on something for once."

oOoOo

About a week later, Temari stood at the doorway into the barbeque resturant where she knew Shikamaru's team would be eating. Sure enough as she entered the place, she saw Ino and Choji waving at her with the ever lazy Shikamaru leaning back in his seat.

She walked over and flicked his forehead with her finger, "Hey you."

He opened his eyes, "Hey yourself. Might as well get a seat, we just ordered."

"I've got to talk to you about something," she said as she slid into the booth, leaving her fan on the outside.

Ino and Choji leaned forward and Shikamaru groaned, "Me too. Want to come to my house to play shogi later?"

Her eyes lit up, "How about a wager? If I can beat you I can ask you to do anything and vice-versa?"

"Troublesome, I just wanted a simple game," he sighed, "Alright. Five games and if you can beat me once I'll do whatever you want." The food came to the table then but Choji and Ino ignored it, staring at the two others.

Temari grinned, "Fine. It shouldn't be too hard to beat your lazy ass."

"But Temari... he's never been..." Ino started, then grinned, "I'll catch you later guys!" she said sliding out of her seat and leaving the resturant.

"It's gonna be all over town now," Shikamaru rubbed his temples, "Why'd you have to make such a troublesome bet?"

"Don't blame me," Temari waved at Choji, "Hey... aren't you going to eat?"

"I'm not sure who I'm going to cheer for," he said in a subdued voice as he reached for the food, "What are you going to make him do?"

"Nothing too embarassing," she smirked, "Well then. I'll be at your house in one hour. I'll bring my two witnesses. I don't want you welching after all." With that she sauntered out into the street.

Choji stared at Shikamaru, "So what are _you_ gonna make her do?"

"Troublesome," the Nara rubbed his temples.

oOoOo

Temari stared down Shikamaru as he laid the pieces out on the board. His turn was first, and she watched as he moved his piece and laid it down. She made her first move and the game commenced.

Gaara watched the proceedings carefully, knowing there was much more to this than a simple wager between friends. He inwardly sighed, did it _really _have to be this complicated for Temari to tell her feelings. He sent a sideways glare towards Kankuro who was snoring lightly, when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned to see Lee and Tenten dragging along a slightly annoyed Neji.

"Have we missed anything?" Tenten whispered.

"No, the first game just started... and why are you here?" he whispered back.

"This is the biggest thing to happen in a while," she exclaimed, "I wanna know how it turns out."

Gaara found himelf thinking that Konoha couldn't have had much entertainment as he noticed more shinobi showing up. But thinking on Tenten's words, and Temari's nervousness, he was inclined to believe the weapons master.

The first game ended with Temari's loss. "Don't give up! You have the power of youth on your side!" Lee shouted.

"You do realize that she's older than he is right," Neji grumbled.

"Women are always more youthful! Tenten has told me so many times!" Lee countered and Tenten stuck her tongue out at Neji who simply threw his hands up in surrender.

The second game started. Temari moved her pieces deftly but couldn't get ahead of Shikamaru's strategy. _Damn, he's already so far. _She chewed her lip, and picked up her last piece moving it...

"That's two for me," he said, rearranging the pieces, "Are you sure you don't want to back out?"

"There's still three games left. I only have to beat you once."

"Troublesome..." he grumbled and the third game began.

Ino and Kurenai joined the onlookers now, with Choji coming behind with snacks for everyone.

"You've missed two games already," Tenten pointed out, "How come you were so late?"

"Choji wanted to make sure he had enough chips for everyone and the baby had a bad diaper," Ino said as she sat down, "Otherwise we would have been here first," she poked Gaara, "Hey, don't forget the Yamanaka flower shop for everything once this is over."

He gave her a confused look, "Why would I need a flower shop?"

She gave an all-knowing smile, "You will. I can tell these things."

The third game ended then, with a frustrated Temari glaring over the board at Shikamaru. She turned to the audience, "Not. Another. Sound."

Even the baby was quiet for the next two games. After a few hours the last piece was placed, and Temari hung her head for a few seconds in defeat before raising it and locking eyes with the Nara.

"I resign," she said, "I can't think of any way out of this. So. What do you want me to do?" she asked chewing her lips.

He sighed, "Troublesome." he stared at her for a few minutes.

"You idiot! Ask her already!" Ino shouted.

He sighed again, and blushed slightly, "I wasn't expecting to do this in front of everyone," he mumbled under his breath, then looked back up at Temari and opened his mouth.

"..."

"Excuse me but could you say that again?" Temari said over the tumultous applause coming from the audience, "I didn't quite catch that."

"Troublesome. I said I wanted you to be my wife." Shikamaru closed his eyes, "And I think your younger brother is about to kill me."

That's when she turned to see Gaara at her side. He looked at the shoji board for a few moments. Suddenly he smiled, moved a piece, and then walked away.

Shikamaru stared, "But I..."

Temari laughed, "Come on, let's go watch some clouds. And then you can ask me properly."

"Troublesome." he muttered, as the two got up and left together.


End file.
